Yes, indeed, it is April 1, the day when hoaxes and practical jokes are the norm. Could one assume that composers have no sense of humour? Of course not! Through the years, several have served from time to time savoury pastiches in the midst of their more serious pages. Some, like Françaix and his Gargantua, went all the way and designed a musical work around laughter.

And let’s not forget John Cage’s 4’33″, in which the puzzled concertgoers end up realizing that the musician won’t play a single note for that time period and that, in fact, the work is in the hall, in between whispers and coughs. Maybe as a way to celebrate the day, the American iTunes store had the work as its “discovery” classical piece this week. How many got caught on this on? No one will admit to it.

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